List of Stains

Stain	Uses	Tissue Components Targeted	Mechanism of Staining	Stains Used Primary Secondary	Other Reagents
Hematoxylin & Eosin (H&E)	General tissue staining	Nuclei - blue RBCs - red/dark pink Muscle - pink Collagen - light pink		Harris Hematoxylin (nuclear) Eosin Y (cytoplasm)	Harris Hematoxylin Acid Alcohol Scott's tap water substitute Eosin Y
Periodic Acid-Schiff (PAS)	Identifying glycogen, starches, and fungi (chitin)
Alcian Blue (AB)
Alcian Blue + Periodic Acid-Schiff (AB PAS)
Congo Red	Identifying amyloid deposits		Hydrogen bonding
Masson Trichrome	Identifying fibrotic tissue	Connective Tissue Stain Nuclei - blue-black RBCs - dark red Muscle - red Cytoplasm - red Collagen - varies by stain (often green or blue)	Porosity and ionic bonding	No primary stain. Iron hematoxylin (nuclear) Ponceau (dense connective) Light green or aniline blue (loose connective)
Gordon and Sweet's Reticulin	Identifies reticulin fibres (type III & IV collagen) Differential diagnosis of certain tumour types	Connective Tissue Stain	Metallic impregnation Argyophilic metallic impregnation & substitution
Verhoeff's Van Giesen
Oil Red O	Identifying triglycerides, lipids, and lipoproteins